


Empire Day

by CrownedinIvy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, BAMF Anakin Skywalker, Empire for a DAY, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wrote this instead of charting, The Revolution Will Be Televised, Well not for long any ways, mentioned/implied torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:21:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24613702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownedinIvy/pseuds/CrownedinIvy
Summary: Anakin Skywalker was the father of the Rebel Alliance whether he knew about it or not. And they are coming for him.Hope the Emperor enjoyed ruling the galaxy, it's not going to last.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker & the Rebel Alliance, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

_You Can’t Take My Name_

Padmé Skywalker was getting ready to address the galaxy for the final time. She knew that Anakin would have been disappointed that she’d chosen to take his name; on Tatooine, if it was safe, the husband took the woman’s name. Anakin had explained that due to slavery and the unsafe conditions of the planet, a woman owned her children and in a good marriage the husband would be their father, regardless of genetics. But Anakin hadn’t known what the name Skywalker would come to mean for the galaxy. Anakin Skywalker wasn’t a formal part of the Rebellion that Padmé was leading, but he was the inspiration. Skywalker meant hope to the dying galaxy under Imperial Control and Padmé would rise to share her husband’s burden. 

Today was the day that 2 years ago the Republic fell. Tomorrow was Luke and Leia’s birthday, but Padmé wasn’t going to see it. She’d been dying for the last two years, a result from the Sith poison throughout her pregnancy, that somehow her tiny force sensitive children had escaped. Today was the day she was going to free Anakin from the Emperor and today was the day she was going to die for. 

Padmé Skywalker straightened her necklace, touched the shoulder guards that had once been Anakin’s, kissed her children and went to war.

_You can take my wife from my arms_

Cal Krestis, Caleb Dume, and Ferren Barr were armouring up from the remnants of the Jedi temple on Corellia when they got the call. Today was the day, today they took the fight to Coruscant. Today the Emperor would lose his most valuable tool against the Rebellion. Today they would free Anakin Skywalker. 

Each of the Padawan~Knights as Councilor Kenobi was partial to calling their trio had known Skywalker, before his capture. Ferren had sparred with him at the temple Before and After he’d followed him on the infiltration of the Factory planet. Cal had fought beside him in the Clone wars and then joined him on the Kamino assault. Caleb had met him when Depa had died and Skywalker had been the one to cut the boy’s braid. Caleb was still struggling with _feelings_ about that.

They all were if they were being honest, they weren’t ready for knighthood. It had been thrust upon them by the deaths of their teachers, their parents whispered the part of them they’d been suppressing all their lives. They weren’t ready for this but they would rise to the challenge and honor their memories, until the last Jedi Fell. 

_You can make orphans of my children_

Alor Kote was not happy about this mission team. His brothers were good, the best, he knew this, but these were not the circumstances he wanted to lead them into battle. Wolffe was mourning his pack for the second time since they’d been deployed, Fox hadn’t apparently slept since the call came in from Padmé Skywalker, and Rex was still kriffing mess. They’d all been struggling with attacking and in some cases killing their Jetii, but Rex had it so much worse; Rex had killed their brothers to save his Jetii. Rex should not be part of this mission.

But the physician had cleared him as a rescue team only, meaning that Rex didn’t get a blaster--Kote knew his brother couldn’t hold one without hysterics--but was coming to get his other Jetii. If the mission failed, Kote was certain that he’d not be bringing Rex home and possibly be returning to a dead Jetii himself. This mission wasn’t one they should be going on, but without Skywalker, Kote knew he’d be trapped under the Emperor’s thumb and so many more of his brothers would have been lost. Skywalker was one of them, Vode An!

_You can tear strips from my brothers_

General Asoka Tano was ready to watch Coruscant burn, a pyre for every Jedi lost in this thrice cursed war. Asoka was 18 and she was the highest ranking member of the Rebel Alliance Army; Asoka was 18 and she just wanted her teacher, her brother, back. And with the Force and Barriss as her witness, she was going to get him back. She gave the order and the attack on Coruscant began.

Barriss Offee was a healer, a Jedi, Fallen, and then not. Anakin Skywalker had found her, she didn’t know how, reached into her mind and suddenly the world shifted. It had taken three days for her to purge all the darkness, and even a year later, Bariss didn’t trust herself with a battle. But she was the second best force healer alive and under no circumstances could Vokara come on this mission, lest she be at too great a risk of death and her knowledge lost with her. So Barriss was on this flag ship waiting for Asoka to return with the Guardian, as the children of the Order had taken to calling him.

_And you can turn my sisters against themselves_

Obi Wan Kenobi had a bad feeling about everything; he’d been feeling that way since one of his best friend’s had opened fire on him 2 years ago, when he’d been a general. Now he wasn’t a general, he was a member of an endangered species, one of the few survivors of a nearly successful genocide. A genocide that would have succeeded in totality had it not been for his Brother/student/belovedchild! Anakin had been treated ill by the Jedi since he’d first been introduced to their order and he turned out to be their salvation. Mace, had he survived, would have most certainly been unbearably smug about the whole affair. 

But Obi Wan was not going to be part of the mission today, the mission to bring home his boy. Because someone needed to survive in case it all went wrong, because of the remaining 300 hundred Jedi, less than 50 were above any age of majority and someone needed to raise their children. Jocasta Nu, Yoda, and Vokara Che were the only remaining masters of their order; Anakin should he die in the last mission would be awarded the title posthumously. He’d refused when it had been offered by Yoda last year, on the heels of Tatooine’s liberation.

“If I ever hear the word master again, teacher,”Anakin had said hoarse from the sand and the battle, exhaustion singing from every part of him. “It will be too soon.”

_You take away those that are most dear to me_

Padmé Skywalker walked into the prisoner’s chambers and felt the tears well in her eyes when she saw him. In her mind she heard his words, Don’t cry, Angel, tears are a waste of water; and as before it did nothing to stem her tears. Hanging by his wrist from a gold chain attached to the ceiling, half kneeling, sith mask over his head and bleeding from every exposed inch of his body, was Anakin Skywalker.

She rushed to him and pulled off the mask to be greeted by glowing, yet unseeing eyes. One golden, one blue, both somehow milky and far away. Before she could speak, though the chain dropped and Anakin fell forward.

_You can take my senses_

Anakin Skywalker was standing on the horizon of a planet he didn’t recognize, next to a man he didn’t know, in clothing that matched what he’d seen the young initiates of the temple wearing.

“Is it worth it?” the man asked.

“What?” Anakin was scrambling, trying to place anything from the scene. He was weaponless and the last thing he remembered was nothingness that he’d assumed was death. 

“Is it worth it?” The man pressed. “Is it worth it to save them, son? This is your last chance to change your mind. Tell me it is not and you can come home, no more suffering, no more struggle, just balance. Just us, forever.” 

“Of course, they’re worth it!” Anakin snapped and suddenly the horizon was playing images from his mind. Obi Wan holding Anakin’s twins, Padmé addressing the Senate, Asoka leading her troops, the clones, the younglings, the freed slaves of Tatooine. “Who are you to say they’re not?”

“I said nothing,” the man said with a smile. “Go, be what you were born to be. Don’t let those who stand against us corrupt you. Hatred and Love are the two side of the same blade and the Darkness gives meaning to the Light.

“Go and remember I am always with you” whispered the manifestation of the Force. 

_And still work me to the bone_

Rex was running through the halls of the Imperial Building--they were all Imperial buildings--Rex wasn’t about to dignify any of them with proper titles. They’d cut the chains and the force dampers to the cell where Anakin had been, but those had been three floors above the actual cell. The sena--Padmé was a strong lady, but Rex didn’t think she could hold their Jetii if he was too weak to stand. Or Fallen.

Finally he reached the doors and flew through them, never stopping to check the area--he should’ve but something was wrong with him. It had been wrong since he’d killed his brothers--stop. Don’t think about it, focus on the Jetii. Padmé is holding him up as best she can, but his gen--the Guardian was now missing a leg to match his arm. Kriff.

Rex hauled the Guardian up, pausing only a moment to register the change in eye color and deciding that fell under Weird Jetii Kyorar--technical term, Kix had used it in a published med journal--and therefore was not his problem. Padmé stumbled, but leaned forward and kissed her husband. 

“Love you, Ani, more than anything,” She said. Rex wished he didn’t have to see their goodbyes. His Jetii had been through so much, he deserved a little dignity.

“Love ya’ Ang’l,” came the slurred and murmured response. “Miss ya”

With that Rex shifted his Jetii into a fireman’s hold, nodded to Padmé and set off racing to the extraction point. 

_You can take my body from me_

Coruscant was on fire, Alor Kote was running extractions and evacuations, Asoka the frontal assault from those who’d still fight, the Orphans had finished pulling the last of the holocrons from the Jedi temple, and Padmé Skywalker was broadcasting live from the Senate Rotunda to every being with a holonet signal in the galaxy. 

Rex was set to hit the extraction point in one minute and was on a shuttle with the Guardian, Kix and Bariss had the medbay prepped for whatever was wrong with him and the millions of others who needed care. Turned out the revolution was being televised and the most watched holovideo ever. Then the retreat call came, when one the tech noticed the planet was experiencing unprecedented seismic activity and just as Kote sent out the last call a distress signal came in. 

“All reinforcements to the extraction point. The Emperor has taken to the field. He and the Guardian are engaged in combat”

_But I will fight you with every breath_

The Battle of Darth Sidious and the High Guardian of the Galaxy as history would remember Anakin Skywalker was possibly the shortest duel in Anakin’s recorded history. Darth Sidious lost his red lightsaber within 20 seconds of initiating combat and oddly began to shift through colors for the rest of the battle as Anakin used it to fight the Sith. Somehow his leg, his missing leg didn’t slow Anakin down and had Anakin looked he’d have seen the blue glow of the force holding him up. 

Sidious threw lightning at a minute and Anakin caught and sent it straight up and across the Coruscant Skies. In response Anakin reached into the depth of the planet, felt the core, and tore it in two. Sidious fell into the chasm that opened and Anakin would have followed if it were for Rex pulling him back. 

_No Matter what you do_

Asoka grabbed the last of the senators and nodded to Padmé who still stood in the center of the Rotunda demanding democracy and freedom for all.

_You_

Kote and Wolffe dragged Rex and the Guardian onto the shuttle and took off. At the same time the Orphans reached the command ship. 

_Can’t_

Obi wan held Luke and Leia close to his chest as he felt Coruscant die. Leia cried and Luke broke the norm for force sensitive children and spoke before his third birthday.

“Bye Bye, Mommy.”

_Take_

Anakin was being carried to the med bay when he felt the love of his life pass into the Force. Tears streaming, he squeezed his fist and the planet crumbled into a small compact sphere a 10th of its size.

_My_

“Jump to hyperspace!” Anakin heard Asoka give the order. Good, he thought and flicked the new star he’d created on and let the darkness of sleep over take him. His family had this, he thought and he turned to the tiny presences making themselves known in his mind. The twins. 

_Name_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the poem

_ You can’t take my name. _

_ You can take my wife from my arms. _

_ You can make orphans of my children. _

_ You can tear strips from my brothers _

_ And turn my sisters against themselves.  _

_ You can take away those most dear to me. _

_ You can take my senses _

_ And still work me to the bone. _

_ You can take my body from me, _

_ But I will fight you with every breath. _

_ No matter what you do _

_ You can’t take my name. _

**Author's Note:**

> Couple of Notes:
> 
> 1) This is set up with Anakin not going after the Council and instead basically founding the Rebel Alliance by having a pyrrhic victory at the temple. Most of the Jedi still die, but Anakin and Artoo figure out away to jam the signal to the chips.
> 
> 2) Yes I wrote the manifestation of the Force as a Man. Because Anakin Skywalker has a mother whom he loves very much and the Force needed an answer not a tearful reunion. The Force looks like Mark Harmon in the 90's because I say so.
> 
> 3) Kote= Cody and no the clones are not doing so great, but hey they got they're free will back. I also broke Rex because I had issues with the end of clone wars and when he showed up in Rebels. Again feelings
> 
> 4) R2-D2 is not present because I can't curse in binary and we all know he drops F bombs like Southern Women bless your heart
> 
> 5) Everyone on the planet is promoting a charity, so for those you so able please donate to the JJKfoundation. The community center has a huge impact on the community in East Saint Louis and the money goes directly to that instead of getting tied up in the endlessness of lobbying


End file.
